Buffalo Soldiers coming to city

Re-enactors tell 'real story' of little known part of black history

The Orlando-based historical re-enactment group Buffalo Soldiers of Florida is coming to St. Augustine.

Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Harry Metz said the 450th Military Commemoration Committee is funding the event as part of its efforts to raise awareness of the importance of the military presence in this area over the past 450 years.

“This is a part of black history that is not well known,” Metz said. “These were black men, many former Union soldiers during the Civil War, who were recruited for the 9th and 10th Cavalry regiments and who fought Indians in the Southwest for many years. These two units also took part in the Spanish American War and stormed the hill with Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.”

The event will be June 29 at the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park.

The group’s leader, John Russell, founded Buffalo Soldiers of Florida in 1992 “to tell the true story of the black men who were the first to serve in the Regular U.S. Army, starting in 1866.”

The term “Buffalo Soldiers” originally referred to the black men who were members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on Sept. 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

According to most accounts, the nickname was given to the “Negro Cavalry” by the Native American tribes they fought. The term eventually became synonymous with all of the African-American regiments formed in 1866, including the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments and the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments.

“We try to tell it like it really was, not like people think it was,” Russell said. “The biggest thing is, it’s not about us. It’s about the people who we hope we are adequately representing. We also strive to tell the story of all the black men and women who struggled, fought and gave their lives to help make the United State the nation it is.”

Russell, a retired district chief for Orange County Fire Rescue, will be one of four members of the group who will be present on horseback at the Fountain of Youth.

“We’re going to set up a campsite and interact with the public,” Russell, 63, said. “We’ll conduct target practice, do some cavalry drills and sabre fights and just tell people about the Buffalo Soldiers.”

He said the primary goal of his group is education done in an entertaining way.

“Another goal of the organization is to use history to teach our young children through discussion, living as the soldiers of that era lived,” he said. “We’re dedicated to telling the story correctly, though.”

He said one thing that people don’t always realize is how the military “led the way” to integration.

“We had black soldiers back in the Civil War, of course,” he said. “These individuals often paid the ultimate price for their country, even before Civil Rights. I lost a lot of friends and close family in the Vietnam War.”

Metz said the 450th Military Commemoration Committee made arrangements for the Buffalo Soldiers to use the county horse facility in Hastings. He said they will also do a show there on June 30.

“Our goal is to teach the truth,” Russell said. “If you don’t know where you come from, you don’t know where you’re going.”